Welcome to the Optometry Library

Dean of the College of Optometry Jerald W. Strickland and Dr. Weston A. Pettey

When the University of Houston College of Optometry was founded in 1952, the Optometry Library began as a mere reading room. From these humble beginnings, the Weston A. Pettey Optometry Library has developed into the finest vision science collection in the Southwest.

The library is located in the J. Davis Armistead Building on the university's main campus and serves the needs of the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Houston College of Optometry, as well as optometrists throughout the state. Recently, the optometry library was visited by and hosted a reception for Weston A. Pettey, O.D. Dr. Pettey was the driving force behind the establishment of a school of optometry in Texas in the 1940s. Initially, Texas Tech and Southern Methodist University expressed interest in founding schools of optometry, but the University of Houston was the first to gain approval from its Board of Regents. UH is still the only university in Texas to have a school of optometry.

The Weston A. Pettey Library maintains a collection of over 12,000 volumes consisting of monographs and journals, plus 35mm slide programs, video cassettes, anatomical models, and CD-programs in the areas of optometry, ophthalmology, vision sciences, psychophysics, optics, vision rehabilitation, neuroscience, ocular pharmacology, psychology, general medicine, pediatrics education and business.

In 1995, the library, which occupies approximately 8,000 square feet of space, underwent a $250,000 renovation. The renovation provided a one hundred and thirty-six seating capacity, ten group study rooms, a large conference room, a computer lab, a current journals reading room, an enlarged photocopy facility to house two large machines, and increased shelving space by twenty percent. During this time, the entire library was also wired with Ethernet connections so all users can access the Internet from anywhere in the facility.

Since the renovation, student use has risen dramatically. Because of the inviting and comfortable atmosphere of the library, students have more of a tendency to use the materials in the library rather than checking them out. Additionally, there are thirty-six computer stations and ten small-group study rooms. Recent studies show that students who study in groups tend to be more successful, and a major goal of the renovation was to provide as many of these as possible.

The Pettey Library is a member of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) and a DOCLINE provider. In order to be chosen to participate, a library must submit its journal holdings to SERLINE (SerialsOn-Line) and keep the information up-to-date. DOCLINE is the National Library of Medicine's automated interlibrary loan request and referral system. This service provides better and faster access to users for materials not owned by the library and gives other libraries better and faster access to our unique collection.

One of the biggest changes in the Pettey Library has come via technology and the Internet. The faculty, staff, and students have access to a multitude of library resources through the University of Houston Libraries Web site, the Pettey Library Web site, and directly from the Internet. The technological advances in the digital world of information access enables library users to benefit from the knowledge the library provides from within their homes and offices.

Suzanne Ferimer